Pope Francis’ latest encyclical, Laudato Si’ has encouraged a vibrant discussion about how we can improve our care of creation. Some people don’t seem to realize that even good Catholics can charitably disagree with the pope when he addresses himself to non-dogmatic matters, which is precisely what much of this encyclical does. I have expressed my own concerns about some prudential aspects of what Pope Francis has to say.
While greedy people do indeed exist I think that the pope’s general tendency to criticize business people does not do justice to the leaders in business, technology, and education that I know. They are people of integrity and careful stewards of creation who deeply desire to make the world a better place for all people. I think of Carroll Ríos de Rodríguez, economics professor at Francisco Marroquín University. Rodríguez, who lives in Guatemala, is deeply invested in ensuring those in poverty have access to clean water. She knows that ending poverty is not a matter of redistributing wealth or using natural resources with no regard for stewardship. She speaks from enormous experience:
You want to prevent someone from walking ten miles … every day to gather water that they need. But then you also have to pay attention to the fact that water is a scarce resource ... And then you have a well-intentioned project of bringing water into a village and people waste [it]. They let the water run and never turn the faucet off because it’s free … If you give people things for free, they’ll take them for granted, and you actually kill an incentive to be creative, to be productive, to improve on what you currently have.
These are not the words of someone bent on maximizing profits or someone with no concern for the poor or creation. These are the words of a person equally committed to the poor and to the economy of her nation. In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis says we must begin “a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet.” This dialogue does not exclude the innovative thinking of those in business and technology who know that profit, care for the poor, and environmental stewardship are not mutually exclusive. It is a good thing that the pope calls for this dialogue.
Sincerely,
Rev. Robert Sirico, President
